News

Here’s the latest news from our Instagram account.

🦝 TRASH GRABS EVERYWHERE!!!!🦝 Hi Everyone 👋 We have been receiving so many great Trash Grab photos and data. You are all awesome. We had a big day of rain ☔️ on Saturday and that caused us to postpone our cleanup at the Brick Works and we know there were a lot of Trash Grabs scheduled for Saturday. We are extending the deadline for Trash Grabs until May 2nd. We are blown away by all the amazing cleanups you have done. All over our fair City and as far away as Paris, Italy, the Caribbean, and Kitchener. Please send us your trash grab photos 📸, location pins📍and the number #️⃣ of bags to: 📧 info@dontmesswiththedon.ca We have so many events going on, newsletters to create, kayaks to get delivered and schools to visit, it will take us a while to compile all the data. We will do the draw for the Fjallraven backpacks on Sunday. Thank you to the over 200 Trash Grabs that you are doing and have done. ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity 📸 2 and 3 taken by @merxad 📸 10 taken by Kinga J. 📸 17 taken by Judy C. #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #trashgrab
🌎Earth Day 🌎 @ ET Seton Park - April 26th, 2026 THANK YOU EVERYONE! WE LOVE YOU!
More photos from Earth Day and the ☀️Sun Valley☀️ Stewardship event. 📸 Taken by the wonderful and talented Stephen G.
This is the lead 📰 - 4500 pounds of trash collected in one morning by 120 volunteers and another 35 volunteers removed invasive species and restored ecosystems nearby in the Don Valley. This is the story - Today, 155 people believed that their actions and the actions of their children would be meaningful. They believed that they wouldn't be the only ones who showed up. They came out because they knew that it was worth their time and effort to give back to their community. We feel great comfort, hope and inspiration when we can stand side by side with others as a community. That invisible yet deep bond of community is the story. We are in this together. A great poet once said - "Nobody wins unless everybody wins". What Bruce 🎸means is we are connected to each other and that community is vital, never more so than today. Thank you to the volunteers, to the partners, the friends, the kids, the parents, the strangers who are now friends, to our organizers and lead volunteers and to the community that is so deep and so strong in the City of Toronto and in DMWTD. We will be updating all the TRASH GRAB data that has been coming in. That is so great and you rock🗿. The next really big cleanup (lots of regular cleanups all the time) is the DVP cleanup on May 31st. Registration is open, link is in our profile. Our May newsletter is coming soon and it will be much easier to read - feedback noted 📝. For the 4th year, yes 4th year !, we will be cleaning the entire DVP from Queen 👑 Street to the 401. Yes that is wild. ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #maketheworldbetterforcricket #volunteeringintoronto
Hi Everyone. We had our fingers crossed that the forecast might improve a bit and the rain would abate somewhat. Unfortunately, no. Today's cleanup is cancelled. The weather looks great for two big events tomorrow at 10 am. Hope everyone can be there tomorrow and stay dry ☔️
HI Everyone 👋 We are so excited for our two big events this weekend. Our big Earth Day cleanup at E. T. Seton and our Stewardship event in Sun Valley - meeting at the Loblaws trailhead. Both at 10 am Sunday 26th. We really really need some lead volunteers for the cleanup. Registration, info and cleanup leaders. All you need is enthusiasm and to be there at 9:30 Sign up link in our profile. ❤️ DMWTD #dontlitter #dontmesswtihthedon #earthday #makeadifference #maketheworldbetterforcricket
Here is the recap from the two cleanups yesterday, plus as a bonus, a look at our Thursday visit to Equinox Alternative School where we did 🐝 Bee Hotels 🏨 with the grade ones. An amazing job by all the volunteers from DMWTD and Toronto Nature Stewards (@torontonaturestewards) with the cleanup at Christie Pits. 40 folks came out and cleaned up one of Toronto's great parks. 10 bags of trash removed in style. DMWTD was also out at Todmorden Mills for our cleanup. It was lovely to see all the TNS folks out for their cleanup of the Wild Flower Preserve. 30 DMWTD volunteers scrubbed Pottery Road and the upper part of the Lower Don Trail. 65 bags collected including the assorted odd things - safe, shopping cart etc. Last Thursday the DMWTD Education Team was invited to Equinox Alternative School (at Roden PS) to visit with the grade ones and learn all about bees and pollinators. We had some amazing parent volunteers and we all made some amazing bee hotels to support our native bees. Thank you grade ones for an awesome afternoon. Good luck to everyone this week with your Trash Grabs. You can still register via the link in our profile or/and you can also join our Board Members who really could use some help with their Trash Grabs - You could win a DMWTD T-shirt. 🧹 Lawrence - Tuesday April 21st • 6pm • Biidaasige Park 🦉 🧹 Mark - Saturday April 25th • 10am • Meeting spot: Beltline right across from Larry Grossman Forest Hill Arena 🧹 John - Saturday April 25th • 10 am • Carstowe Road 🧹 Dave - Saturday April 25th • 10 am • 694 Mt Pleasant ☕️ Starbucks 🧹 Ray - Saturday April 25 • 12pm • Amos Waites Park 12pm Year to date: •Number of clean ups - 7 •Number of bags - 556 •Amount of trash removed - 11,900 pounds ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #torontonaturestewards #volunteeringintoronto
Yes, today DMWTD volunteers cleaned over 1700 pounds of trash from the Don Valley and Christie Pits (in partnership with Toronto Nature Stewards @torontonaturestewards). That is amazing and we want to talk about all of it but here we will talk about a bit of it. One photo, look at the photo, it is a very tiny Northern Brown Snake 🐍. One of our volunteers picked up a plastic bag and this amazing, complex and beautiful creature was underneath, using the plastic bag to keep warm. This can not and must not be our human legacy. Animals sheltering in our waste and forever plastics. Time and time again we have picked up plastics only to find a snake underneath or have seen a bird's nest made more of plastic than natural grasses and twigs. This snake living in our plastic is inexcusable and no matter where one might land politically, wrong. Today, volunteers cleaned thousands upon thousands of broken and tiny pieces of plastics on our hands and knees. You are all stewards and a gift to our planet. Thank you for all the creatures you helped and all the life you support. We covered the snake as soon as we could because that is all we were able to do. Year to date: •Number of clean ups - 7 •Number of bags - 556 •Amount of trash removed - 11,900 pounds ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #torontonaturestewards #volunteeringintoronto 📸 photos 15-20 ½ taken by Tim
🎁 Happy 8th Birthday to Don't Mess with the Don 🎁 8 years ago today, three trail runners made a promise to each other to do something about the trash covering the ravines in the Don Valley. We didn't know that 8 years on, thousands of volunteers would clean over 400,000 of trash and establish beautiful free community programming for all. Kayaking, stewardship, art, mountain biking, school programs, kids camps, trail running, canoeing, paddle boarding, DVP cleanups, trips, campaigns targeting single use plastics and advocacy for our ravines and green spaces. To those three who came first, to all those who came next and to everyone who has volunteered, thank you for your love, your friendship and believing that small actions do make a difference. A few years ago one of board members said this and it remains true today and every day - "We stood shoulder to shoulder in the pouring rain cleaning up garbage. I love you" With gratitude and hope ❤️ Don't Mess with the Don
Today DMWTD partnered with hundreds of Kew Beach PS students, amazing teachers and awesome parent volunteers who cleaned thousands of plastics and really really tiny plastics from the beaches of Ashbridges Bay. Kew Beach, you were amazing and inspiring. We are ready for all our cleanups coming during Earth week and for everyone who is doing our Trash Grab, the kids have set a high bar. The small bits of trash and plastics are the hardest to clean and students from all grades did amazing. Special thanks to the Kew Beach Ecoteam who were great leaders for all the other students. We talked about the impact of plastics on our planet and the local environment. Thank you also to our partner for the day, Ocean Conservancy (@oceanconservancy), who we have worked with before. Always fun. Also a big thanks to Adrienne and Stephen from DMWTD who are the best. ‼️ DMWTD will be doing TWO (2) cleanups this weekend ‼️ We have our clean up at Todmorden Mills Sunday at 10 am and we are partnering with the fine folks at Toronto Nature Stewards (@torontonaturestewards) for a cleanup at Christie Pits Sunday at 11 am - meet at the southeast corner near the TTC station (Christie). Both cleanups will have everything you need. Reminder that our big 🌎Earth Day🌍events are on the 26th at 10 am. The big annual clean up 🧹 at E. T. Seton Park and the DMWTD Stewardship 🪏 in Sun Valley. No need to register for either. DMWTD is looking for lead volunteers to help with the cleanup that day - registration, food and lead cleanup volunteers - link to help is in our profile. Year to date: •Number of clean ups - 5 •Number of bags - 480 •Amount of trash removed - 10,100 pounds ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #keepitcleanforcricket #volunteeringintoronto
‼️ DMWTD will be doing TWO (2) cleanups this weekend ‼️ We have our clean up at Todmorden Mills Sunday at 10 am and we are partnering with the fine folks at Toronto Nature Stewards (@torontonaturestewards) for a cleanup at Christie Pits Sunday at 11 am - meet at the southeast corner near the TTC station (Christie). Both cleanups will have everything you need. Reminder that our big 🌎Earth Day🌍events are on the 26th at 10 am. The big annual clean up 🧹 at E. T. Seton Park and the DMWTD Stewardship 🪏 in Sun Valley. No need to register for either. DMWTD is looking for lead volunteers to help with the cleanup that day - registration, food and lead cleanup volunteers - link to help is in our profile. Many thanks to all who clean our planet. ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #torontonaturestewards #volunteeringintoronto
🏃DMWTD Youth Trail Running Sign Up🏃🏼‍♀️ Yes, here it is for Season 10 ! Don't Mess with the Don was founded by trail runners. Trail running is a big part of the DMWTD story and each Spring and Fall we host our very popular clinics for youth 11 to 14. The sessions start May 12th and 14th and run for four weeks. Participants sign up for only one of those nights though you are allowed to switch days if you need if something comes up. 🚨UPDATE - Tuesdays are now full, there are 10 spots left for Thursday🚨 Please only sign up if your child will be attending all 4 sessions. This program fills up very fast and we want all spots to used during all 4 weeks. We have a great partner in Salomon (@salomonrunning) who helps us out with shoes for the youth. Sign up is limited to 15 youth per day Link in our profile. If you have any questions please contact us at info@dontmesswiththedon.ca All DMWTD programs are free to everyone
🚨 Trash Grab News - Prizes and Trash Grabs you can join 🚨 One of amazing sponsors - Fjallraven (@fjallravenofficial), is giving one of our Trash Grab Teams who have completed their Trash Grab, Kanken Backpacks for everyone in your group. A draw for the backpacks will occur on April 30th. Everyone in the winning group, up to 10 people, will receive one of these awesome and lovely backpacks thanks to our great friends at Fjallraven. ⭐️ Sign up now for our trash grab ⭐️ You, your family & friends can clean your favourite park, neighbourhood or street and for every bag you clean, donors will contribute $5 to Don’t Mess with the Don. ➡️YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY ⬅️- send us a photo 📸, location pin 📍and the number of bags afterwards. Pre-registration is easy and we will send updates (Link is in our profile). We have secured pledges for up to $25,000 or 5000 bags of trash collected ‼️That's not all…‼️ Many of our Board Members are doing Trash Grabs of their own and they could sure use help - we may be experts at garbage but we love having friends help. Lnk to sign up for one of our Board Trash Grabs is in our profile. Anyone attending these will have a chance to win a DMWTD t-shirt 👕 of their choice including our awesome Paddle & Protect Kayaking shirts - one t-shirt per location 🧹 Sabrina - Monday April 20th • 4pm • Sumach Shuter Parkette 🧹 Lawrence - Tuesday April 21st • 6pm • Biidaasige Park 🦉 🧹 Mark - Saturday April 25th • 10am • Meeting spot: Beltline right across from Larry Grossman Forest Hill Arena 🧹 John - Saturday April 25th • 10 am • Carstowe Road 🧹 Dave - Saturday April 25th • 10 am • 694 Mt Pleasant ☕️ Starbucks 🧹 Ray - Saturday April 25 • 12pm • Amos Waites Park 12pm ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontmesswiththedon #keepitcleanforcricket #trashgrab
Imagine impacting nearly 500 students in just over a week. That was our last week and this week. DMWTD's school programming is a hidden gem we rarely talk about. We are in schools talking about the impact of single use plastics on our local and world wide ecosystems. We are teaching students the meaning of vital species connections like Monarch Butterflies and 🥛Milkweed🌱. Teaching them to plant and set up classroom seed trays. We are hosting schools to remove invasive plants like Dog Strangling Vine and Buckthorn. We host schools for cleanups and this week we are leading an entire school for a cleanup of the beaches. We are in classrooms teaching about the importance of bees and their critical role in our food and as pollinators. We are helping grade ones build 🐝 Bee Hotels 🏨 . We are there supporting our teachers and students with free in school and field trip programming. Our education system faces so many cuts and challenges. Our schools deserve proper resources and support. DMWTD is so proud to help out. Last Friday, We were at John Wanless Public School teaching 8 classes, grades 3 through 6, about the impacts of plastic pollution on our ravines, communities and waterways. We explored with the students what we all can do to reduce our reliance on plastics and build a more sustainable and healthy planet. ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontmesswiththedon
10,000 pounds in 4 cleanups in 5 weeks 💪 Don't Mess with the Don - or anywhere else. Cleanup season is on, send DMWTD in. There are so many good people in Toronto and we are so fortunate to have a whole bunch of good people volunteering with DWMTD 💕. Today, we were back on Lower Bayview for another cleanup. Another 125 bags of trash grabbed, bagged and gone. The next two weeks are an exciting time for DMWTD and our volunteers. Our Trash Grab starts April 20th - We have lined up donors willing to give DMWTD up to $25,000. ➡️YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY ⬅️- send us a photo 📸, location pin 📍and the number of bags afterwards. Pre-registration is easy and we will send updates (Link is in our profile). Our big 🌎Earth Day🌍events are on the 26th at 10 am. The big annual clean up 🧹 at E. T. Seton Park and the DMWTD Stewardship 🪏 in Sun Valley. Year to date: •Number of clean ups - 4 •Number of bags - 450 •Amount of trash removed - 10,000 pounds ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity 📸 12 - taken by @heymarkgraham #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #keepitcleanforcricket #volunteeringintoronto
DMWTD needs you to help by cleaning trash - not by joining one of our cleanups, which is always great, but by doing one of your own. No need to raise money just do a clean up anywhere in the whole world. We love our Paddle & Protect Paddling program. We have bought 20 new kayaks. We are adding canoeing at Cherry Beach with 12 new Novacraft (@novacraftcanoe) canoes. We are going to be located in Biidaasige Park as well this year which is awesome and we be able to do more paddling than ever. We are working hard at adding locations on Toronto islands and the Humber for even more paddling. DMWTD is one of the largest paddling operations in Toronto and our volunteers clean ten of thousands of pounds of trash/plastics from the water and shorelines of our favourite water places. This is one of our new boats all ready to go play in the water. We get an awesome deal from our companies that supply us. We never ever ask for donations and all our programs are free and that shall hopefully always be. BUT - you can help by signing up for our Trash Grab and do a clean up in your neighbourhood, local park or anywhere you love that needs a good clean. Signing up now for our Earth Week Trash Grab. April 20th - 26th. We have lined up donors willing to give DMWTD up to $25,000. ➡️YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY ⬅️- send us a photo 📸 , location pin 📍 and the number of bags afterwards. Pre-registration is easy and we will send updates (link is in our profile). ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontmesswiththedon
Clean up on Sunday April 12th at 10 am at Riverdale West. DMWTD, led this week by Ray (our clean up Jedi), will return to Lower Bayview and Episode II of the Trash Strikes Back (best of the series). As we get ready for all the clean ups during Earth Week we thought we would keep the momentum going and get the ball rolling - Can you do both at the same time? Our big Earth Day events are on the 26th at 10 am. The big annual clean up 🧹 at E. T. Seton Park and the DMWTD Stewardship 🪏 event at the Loblaws Trailhead. No sign up necessary for either unless you are group of more than 10 or you wish to help a little bit more by being a lead volunteer. info@dontmesswiththedon.ca Signing up now for our Earth Week Trash Grab. April 20th - 26th. We have lined up donors willing to give DMWTD up to $25,000. ➡️YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY⬅️ Pre-registration is easy, optional and we will send updates (Link found in our profile). ❤️ DMWTD—a kinda awesome and a registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #keepitcleanforcricket #volunteeringintoronto
🐝 Bee Hotels 🏨 and 🐦‍⬛Birdhouses 🏡 at the Brick Works (@evergreen_brick_works) with DMWTD. We had a great time yesterday with over 25 folks helping to make the world better for our bees and birds. Supporting our Tree Swallows and solitary bees with habitat is so important and being able to have so many kids out having fun and learning is awesome. Thank you so much to the Brick Works (@evergreen_brick_works) for hosting and all the DMWTD helpers. We have some materials left over and we will be looking to do Bee Hotels again very soon. Next up from the DMWTD Art Studio 🎨 - Art from Invasives at Todmorden Mills on April 25th - Watch here and our WhatsApp event group (link in our profile) for registration details. Support all this great free programming by: Signing up now for our Earth Week Trash Grab. April 20th - 26th. We have lined up donors willing to give DMWTD up to $25,000. ➡️YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY⬅️ Pre-registration is easy, optional and we will send updates, link is in our profile. 📝 Next clean up - April 12th at Riverdale West - 10 am ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #dontmesswtihthedon #evergreenbrickworks #thankyouforbeeingafriend
Everyone wants to know about all our upcoming programming and of course all the clean ups for Earth Month. Here is the April newsletter with all the info including our two big 🌎Earth Day🌍events on April 26th and of course our ➡️Trash Grab⬅️which has over 110 clean ups registered. All you have to do is clean your favourite park or neighbourhood space and you raise $5 a bag for DMWTD. No need to raise any money yourself, donors ready to give cash to DMWTD. See our newsletter for details. Link to newsletter found in our profile. ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #keepitcleanforcricket #volunteeringintoronto
1400 pounds of Trash - Picked clean from Crother's Woods and the Don Valley. 50+ volunteers on some pretty steep slopes filled and carried over 70 bags of trash plus bikes, pallets, furniture to a better place. So many folks out for the first time and so many friends we have grown up with for so long. We love you, like a lot. 🎂 On April 18, Don't Mess with the Don will celebrate our 8th Birthday 🎂 Since 2018 DMWTD volunteers have done more than 400 clean ups removing 400,000 pounds of trash from our City. From the ravines, the rivers and Toronto's waterfront. By kayak, paddle board, wagon and carts we have hauled. All picked up by hand. 400,000 pounds - heavier than a blue whale or the Statue of Liberty. Support DMWTD through our Earth Week Trash Grab Challenge ‼️ Sign up now for our Earth Week Trash Grab. April 20th - 26th ‼️ We have lined up donors willing to give DMWTD up to $25,000. YOU DON'T HAVE TO RAISE ANY MONEY - JUST DO A CLEAN UP IN YOUR PARK OR COMMUNITY - After you do your clean up, just send a photo 📸, a location pin 📍 and the number of bags collected to info@dontmesswiththedon.ca You, your family & friends can clean your favourite park, neighbourhood, ravine or street and for every bag you clean, OUR DONORS will contribute $5 to Don’t Mess with the Don. Support all the great DMWTD Free Programming. Clean ups can be done at anytime during the week. Pre-registration is easy, optional and we will send updates (link is in our profile). 📝 Year to date: •Number of clean ups - 3 •Number of bags - 324 •Amount of trash removed - 7400 pounds ❤️ DMWTD - A registered Canadian Charity 📸 1, 10, 13, 17 - Kinga J. 📸 16 - Lina T. 📸 12 & 20 - @souheilhamzi #dontlitter #dontmesswiththedon #garbagecleanup #keepitcleanforcricket #volunteeringintoronto